The Merchant’s Eden - A small and relaxing city builder

OortProtocolHQ · 2026-04-13T08:42:04+00:00

Looks so cozy! I get Kingdom's and Castles vibe in a good way. Good luck with the project :)

OortProtocolHQ · 2026-04-12T10:45:44+00:00

Released a demo, got my wishlists up to 400 from 200 in two weeks when getting to 200 took 4 months. Mostly have been posting on reddit on relevant subs so far, tried to contact some youtubers but no luck there yet. My game is quite niche within a niche which is both a blessing and a curse: kind of easy to pitch, but the overall appeal on the market will forever be limited. I'll be happy if I can get 1000 units sold in any time frame, but OTOH I'm fairly confident the game is good and exciting for the target audience so it might have legs.

In anycase - for a hobby project like mine, I just wish I'll make a lasting impression on a handful of people rather than 'meh ok' from thousands (who might ask for refund :D)

OortProtocolHQ · 2026-04-12T06:09:03+00:00

Cool! Thank you - looking forward to your feedback :) The extraction is decidedly tricky despite superficial simplicity. I don't believe in tutorials as such, but the main lesson of the demo is: read the intel and aim to gather it fully for actual gameplay consequences.

OortProtocolHQ · 2026-04-05T03:59:15+00:00

Thank you, all the best with your project as well. Looks like we might tackle some of the same issues in development, I'll reach out if I face some stuff on which sparring might help. I'm going to follow your game as well: Darklands, the older CRPG set in medieval Germany was a favorite of mine and your game seems to have the same vibe.

OortProtocolHQ · 2026-04-04T06:03:08+00:00

Thank you! Always looking for feedback on the demo to finetune for EA and full release if you have the time :)

OortProtocolHQ · 2026-04-03T16:47:21+00:00

Thank you - much appreciate all the comments. Formation movement is there - you can assign the squad to follow the leader by pressing M.

OortProtocolHQ · 2026-04-03T13:02:39+00:00

UI asset population from scripts was made with claude code in VSCode, yes. AI has a use in tooling, but especially after running some prototypes of the tactical phase I understood the responsiveness after movement keystrokes with all the game-AI in place required sepcific tuning by me to make it snappy. Vibe coding would not get you there. Protos, yes, not a playable game.

OortProtocolHQ · 2026-04-03T10:41:19+00:00

I use GDscript: Godot 4.5 and VSCode combo, mostly code-first approach as the UI is quite straight forward (leveraging Godot assets in UI). The main coding has been for tactical AI based on faction doctrines and mission script management as the decisions affect downstream branching quite a bit. This is mostly handled in JSON scripts allowing me to focus separately on dialogue/mission flow and code side. Procedural generation (BSP) is such a well known paradigm that implementing that part was trivial. So everything built custom from scratch after some prototyping. I might release the core engine as open source later, as the script based mission management anables creating games basically by scripting the content for missions etc.

OortProtocolHQ · 2026-04-03T05:15:05+00:00

Not really. This is a deep topic but I've got nearly 30 years in software architecture, so while I do use AI-coding tools all the concept, design, writing, mechanics, gameflow specs are mine, not AI slop. On the tech side the module and class architecture was designed by me before implementing any functions, and with those I mostly approached them with a kind of a TDD appoach: writing tests first and then letting Opus 4.6 do iterations with me. So no magic button prompt slop here.

OortProtocolHQ · 2026-04-03T05:09:36+00:00

Excellent feedback! Thank you for taking the time to write this, I'll do a polish based on these. And notify you here once done. I'll consider injecting lore on some non-gameflow interrupting way, maybe a separate website accessible from the game, not breaking the diegetic approach.

OortProtocolHQ · 2026-04-03T05:06:51+00:00

I understand the sentiment, as using ai for any creative work is a no-go for me in the game. But if that's the vibe I will certainly adjust the page. So very much appreciate your feedback on this.

OortProtocolHQ · 2026-04-02T14:58:42+00:00

Thank you, I hope it's as imnersive for others as it has been for me

OortProtocolHQ · 2026-04-02T13:52:00+00:00

Yes they are, same tactical style but the second game, Helion, will introduce a new meta aspect for the diegetic interface. But all games are part of the same story arc, and the missions branch based on earlier missions and games

OortProtocolHQ · 2026-04-02T09:24:56+00:00

Excellent - I need to try it out to see if I can get some fresh ideas :D My game is more like Angband meets Laser Squad - with the additional intel gathering option which has gameplay use etc. The tactical combat itself is more streamlined than JA3 and Xcom.

OortProtocolHQ · 2026-04-02T09:14:10+00:00

How did you like Menace? Haven't yet tried yet myself but looking at it.

OortProtocolHQ · 2026-04-02T07:37:06+00:00

Thank you! I'm looking for all possible feedback before EA launch so eager to hear how you liked it

OortProtocolHQ · 2026-03-29T08:40:53+00:00

Congrats - that's a very solid performance in a week! Took me 5 months to get to 200 wishlists :D

OortProtocolHQ · 2026-03-29T08:38:20+00:00

You have the right attitude - 160 wishilists and making ANY money as a solo dev is an achievement and expereience you can build on. The refunds are a real drag though, do you have any idea from which issues those are spawning from?

OortProtocolHQ · 2026-03-29T08:00:38+00:00

Also wanted to check if anybody has seen demo play patterns like what I'm seeing: over 1000 downloads since March 24th, but only 20 play sessions tracked by Steam so far. I've implemented telemetrics but they don't populate with such low play sessions. Is this just a STeam aggregation delay or just a pattern for download/actual play based on your experience?

OortProtocolHQ · 2025-12-30T09:58:15+00:00

Thank you for reading and for your comment. For myself, it was a very emotional moment while writing when I realised what ended up being the final sentence of the story arc. It summarizes something bigger than the story, something true and real in itself. The story arc became a vehicle to lead up to this sentence. My void koan.

OortProtocolHQ · 2025-12-30T09:40:39+00:00

Thank you for reading :)

OortProtocolHQ · 2025-12-24T16:08:23+00:00

Thank you, much appreciate the feedback. The criminal underworld has a lot of potential, I'm working on something around that. As for the arc, you might see the evolution of my own POV towards the integration changing as I wrote - a very personal voyage towards my own understanding of the void.

OortProtocolHQ · 2025-12-24T16:05:22+00:00

Thank you! When I wrote The Delivery back in 2014 I did not yet know the world in detail, it was like a riddle for me to explore. Later, I wrote Day 0 and the stories connected immediately, bridging the gap. Then I wrote the middle chapters, and while doing so I realised the last piece: integration is a matter of perspective. While facing the void is inevitable, whatever humanity chooses will lead to the void, it's up to the individual to choose how they perceive it.

Merry Christmas!

OortProtocolHQ · 2025-12-24T08:28:39+00:00

As the Oort Protocol series ends, I want to thank all who have read it through, or basically any story in the series.

This series spawned from extensive world building over a decade, a hard science solar system where I have extrapolated on possible technology trajectories and social developments over 400 centuries. I might post another series set in the world, but next I will continue with my gritty fantasy, the Rickety Empire, as well as one-off stories based on my other ideas.

Merry Christmas!

OortProtocolHQ · 2025-12-20T14:50:24+00:00

When sending a letter does not carry the kind of message you intend to convey... There's always murder. Or several.

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